Nuggets coach George Karl freely admits to attaching a winning percentage in games against teams that are under .500.

"You should win 75 percent of those games," Karl said.

Well, the Nuggets are getting there.

Their 121-93 victory over the Sacramento Kings at the Pepsi Center on Saturday night was a step in the right direction, particularly against the backdrop of losses like the one the Nuggets suffered against their last sub-.500 opponent: the Washington Wizards.

"We've been talking about staying focused and keeping the same level of intensity no matter who we're playing, and that happened tonight," Andre Iguodala said. "We've got to continue that trend, keep that habit. This was a good one for us, knowing that we can take care of business."

It pushed the Nuggets' record against losing teams to 13-7, a .650 winning percentage. Yet, as friendly as this month and the upcoming home schedule is — five more consecutive games at the Pepsi Center — there's actually only two more chances to improve upon that before the Nuggets hit the road for four games heading into the NBA's all-star break.

So they will need to take care of business against teams such as Sacramento when they can. That wasn't a problem Saturday. In fact, pretty much nothing was a problem. Getting off to good start? Check. Shooting well from all areas of the court? Check. Forcing turnovers? Check. Playing solid defense? Check.

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It was a walk-in-the-park night for the Nuggets, who quite frankly needed a game like that. Far too many times this season these kinds of games have been struggles for Denver at the very least, or losses at worst.

But against the A) subpar and B) tired Kings (playing the second game of a back-to-back set), the Nuggets shot 73 percent in a first quarter in which they scored 39 points. That faded into 71 points at halftime, a season high for a first half this season, and 101 whopping points after three quarters. Yes, a laugher.

"I can't deny the starters deserve a lot of credit for tonight's game," Karl said. "I thought our starters did a great job getting us into the game both offensively and defensively. We were playing with a higher energy, we were playing with a higher skill set. The balance of the offense and defense is probably what I was pleased with most."

In the process, the Nuggets recorded their 27th win of the season and improved their record in January to 10-3.

Suddenly, the rugged, road-heavy start to the season seems so long ago. Karl said he's "happy with where we are at," and that he's always looked upon this home-heavy part of the schedule as a can't-miss opportunity.

Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans tries to steal the ball from Denver Nuggets guard Andre Iguodala during the first quarter on Saturday in Denver. (David Zalubowski, The Associated Press)

The Nuggets were led by Ty Lawson's 26 points. Lawson hit 11-of-15 shots and also contributed six assists and four steals.

A big part of the Denver offense, especially early, was the 3-point shot. The Nuggets hit 13 shots from beyond the arc against the Kings and shot 52.8 percent from the field overall.

Nuggets Recap

What you might have missed. Coach George Karl had veteran guard Andre Miller run the first 20 minutes of Saturday morning's shootaround. Karl called it a success and smiled when he mentioned that every player is going to get a chance to direct part of a shootaround this season.

Final thought. Sacramento is a team the Nuggets should beat, especially on a back-to-back set, and they did.

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